A group of black Congressional staffers staged a protest and walked out of the Capitol on Thursday. They were protesting recent grand jury decisions not to indict police officers who killed unarmed black men.

The 1,600-page omnibus spending bill includes language that raises contribution limits to the national party committees, bringing them above the realm of merely wealthy donors. Under the provision, donors can give a party a total of $778,000 — each year, an eight-fold increase.

Lawmakers grilled an MIT professor on Tuesday over controversial comments he made about Obamacare. Jon Gruber has been one of the law's strongest advocates, but he also said the law passed with a big assist from voters' "stupidity."